UT roster breakdown: Running backs

After finishing the spring at 230 pounds, the senior was advised by Texas coaches to get leaner. It turned out he didn’t need to change his workout routine. He just needed to bring a different color scheme to his meals.

“Salad. Green stuff,” Brown said when asked what he’s eaten for the past five months. “Stuff I don’t like.”

After all of this time, Brown said he still hasn’t found a green food he actually enjoys. But he hopes that his new 218-pound body will help him lead a Longhorns backfield expected to be a team strength. Here’s an overview of the group:

After being limited by injuries during each of his first two seasons at UT, Brown played in all 13 games as a junior, starting four. He racked up a career high 904 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. Encouragingly, his best stretch came at the finish, as he ran for at least 128 yards in each of UT’s last three games.

Brown emerged as that workhorse at that time in part because the Longhorns were without Johnathan Gray, who tore his Achilles tendon in November at West Virginia. Before the injury, Gray led UT with 780 yards in nine games, averaging 4.9 yards per rush. A notoriously hard worker and quick healer, he obliterated his doctors’ expectations by returning to full-speed workouts within seven months of his surgery. He looks poised to re-assume his role as the quick, on-the-edge complement to Brown’s rugged, between-the-tackles style, and both tailbacks are shooting for 1,000-yard seasons.

The Longhorns need them both, because they no longer have an established extra option after the transfer of Joe Bergeron and dismissal of Jalen Overstreet. Instead, the third-string back is freshman Donald Catalon, who probably could have used a redshirt season but will instead receive opportunities to play right away.

UT isn’t likely to utilize the fullback as part of its base offense, but when the Longhorns need one, they’ll use converted linebacker Alex De La Torre, a physical blocker whose surprise touchdown reception helped key a UT comeback at West Virginia last year.